1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hair-cutting tools, and particularly to scissors, shears, or like instruments that are used to cut or thin hair, said scissors having multiple pairs of blades.
Currently, the standard technique for the blunt cutting, thinning, sculpting, or texturing of hair, or any other technique known for the removal or styling of hair by a hairdressing professional, is to use a pair of scissors incorporating a single pair of cutting blades. The cutting blades take the form of either straight or toothed/serrated cutting edges, and the scissors are manipulated horizontally in relation to the hair shaft.
The development of the present invention was necessitated by the limitations of the tools and techniques currently utilized within the hairdressing trade and the desire to achieve a certain degree of perfection within a craft. A disadvantage of the standard technique is that cutting hair horizontally leaves the ends of the hair shafts blunt and heavy rather than achieving a desired lightness through the ends that allows for more movement, a reduction of weight, and a resulting reduction in bulk. There are also certain styles that cannot be achieved without drastic hair volume reduction. A vertical orientation of the scissors offers one means of addressing this problem. This vertical technique, called point cutting, lightens, thins, softens, and textures the hair ends. However, a vertical approach with a traditional single-bladed pair of scissors is arduous and time-consuming.
In response to this problem, the present invention provides a multiple-bladed hair-cutting tool that will drastically reduce the time and effort entailed in the vertical cutting technique. The use of the present invention in a vertical orientation by a skilled hairdresser will allow for: softening of hair; thinning of hair without the hair marking that attends traditional thinning scissors; weight reduction on very short, thick hair by channeling without marking; making evenly spaced wisps; the possibility of sculpting straighter hair into waves with a freehand technique known to skilled hairdressers that creates more hair movement; the availability of more blade surface; and many other advantages over traditional tools and techniques.
Razors and thinning scissors have traditionally been used to simultaneously reduce hair weight, maintain length, and create movement. However, razors tear at the hair being cut, resulting in splitting of the hair and fraying of the hair ends, and they fail to provide the operator with adequate control over how much weight, volume, bulk, or mass is removed at a single stroke, nor do they provide enough control over the exactness of the varying lengths. Thinning shears also fail to provide an attractive and desirable result, as they bite the hair and mark it. The present invention provides an alternative means for thinning or cutting hair that addresses these problems by utilizing a plurality of cutting blades.
2. Description of the Background Art
Prior attempts to provide a multiple-bladed hair-cutting tool include U.S. Pat. No. 2,272,580, wherein is disclosed hair cutting and thinning shears which include two blade units incorporating an integrated plurality of cutting and thinning surfaces, each blade unit with a handle. However, these blade units do not operate in the same manner as the present invention with its multiple pairs of cutting blades, nor do they provide the option of removing the extra cutting blades to allow for operation as a traditional pair of scissors or for ease of sharpening. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,272,580, the two blade units are the only components and are equipped with a plurality of straight cutting edges and thinning blades with teeth, an entirely different approach to the problems of hair cutting and thinning than is utilized in the present invention. In addition, this prior art fails to address the problems associated with thinning scissors generally.
The principal object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a manually operable hair-cutting tool capable of being effectively utilized in a vertical hair-cutting technique, the tool comprising at least three pairs of cutting blades, with actuating means on an intermediate pair. Although some horizontal hair cutting may still be necessary, this new hair-cutting tool is to mainly be used vertically in relation to the hair being cut, or nearly parallel to the hair shaft itself, rather than the traditional horizontal cutting procedure, allowing for such effects as graduation and layering.
Other objects will appear from the description and the drawings.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a hair-cutting tool comprising at least three pairs of elongated cutting blades, said pairs separate from each other but provided with a means of being removably connected together at a pivot point and thereby forming a combination of a central pair of cutting blades and at least two outer pairs of cutting blades, such that the cutting blades operate together through movement of actuating handles on the central pair of cutting blades around the pivot point.